


The day of the blind

by Callistemon



Category: Daredevil (Comics), Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Aliens, Blindness, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, No triffids, Zombies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-14
Updated: 2020-01-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:27:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22248616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Callistemon/pseuds/Callistemon
Summary: Foggy often wondered how that day would have played out if he hadn't had a migraine, if he hadn't spent all day and all evening curled up in bed, the curtains drawn, lights off, and a sleeping mask over his eyes. He wondered what would have happened if his best friend wasn't a blind, enhanced individual who could navigate this new alien world. It wasn't helpful to dwell on what ifs. But what if...
Relationships: Matt Murdock & Franklin "Foggy" Nelson
Comments: 23
Kudos: 81
Collections: Daredevil Bingo





	1. Migraine, my saviour

**Author's Note:**

> My Daredevil WIP has come to a bit of a grinding halt (identity reveals are hard!), so I thought I'd clean up and post this short (for me) story that's been sitting in my 'drafts' folder in my email for months in the hope that it might inspire me to return to the WIP.

The day everything changed started off completely normal. Foggy had got up, gone to work, developed a defence strategy for the Zhang case with Matt. Things started to go downhill mid-afternoon when he got the tell-tale aura that warned of an impending migraine.

Matt insisted on accompanying Foggy home, finding the prescription migraine pills as Foggy crawled into bed. Matt lingered (as he always did) until Foggy snapped at him to go home because he was breathing too loudly. Somehow that cut through Matt's overprotective instincts and he left Foggy alone to wait out his migraine in the dark, promising (or as Foggy interpreted it, threatening) to return in the morning.

Unbeknownst to Foggy, Matt set up camp in Foggy's living room, listening for signs that his best friend might need help. He passed the time listening to podcasts, one earphone in, while his other ear was trained on Foggy’s bedroom.

At about 9pm, Matt sat up straight as he heard unusual sounds outside. A collective "ooh" and "ahhh" could be heard all around him, along with comments like "what is that?" Radios and televisions were switched on as his fellow New Yorkers searched for the source of whatever was ooh-worthy.

Matt could hear the confused speculations from newsreaders. He listened intently to Foggy’s neighbor’s television: _"while we're waiting for our astronomy specialist, Professor Sasha Singe, we're going to cross to the Avengers spokesperson, John Brown_."

Matt stood up, trying to take in the television conversation and the many conversations of the people around him. Everyone seemed to have a different take: some thought it was an asteroid, others were talking about aliens, others were wondering if it was going to result in another Incident.

" _John Brown, thanks for talking to us tonight_ , " the news anchor said.

" _It's a pleasure_."

" _What are we seeing here_?"

" _Well, we're currently investigating, but we suspect it's an asteroid shower. You see, sometimes when asteroids-_ "

" _But aren't asteroid showers brief? They burn up as the asteroids hit the earth's atmosphere_."

The spokesperson stumbled, " _uh, yes, well, it's important not to panic_."

" _Hang on, you just said it was an asteroid shower._ "

" _Yes, that's right. Some gasses embedded in_ -"

" _But asteroids are_ -"

" _I have to go. I'm being paged by Tony Stark_."

" _But Mr Brown_ -"

" _Good night_."

" _And now we're going to cross to Jane Smith, who is live from Times Square. Jane, can you describe the mood around you right now?"_

" _Well, it's like the 4th of July fireworks have come early. People are understandably very excited. It's a beautiful display_."

A beautiful display of _what_ , Matt wanted to shout. He was relying on everyone around him to describe what was going on. As far as he could tell, it looked like some sort of light display. If only Foggy wasn't holed up in bed. Matt threw his attention to his friend, whose breathing had slowed, but was still awake and probably still in pain. There was no way Matt was going to disturb him now.

"Streaks of green," Matt heard someone narrate.

"Greeny-yellow," the person next to them corrected.

"It's like spaghetti."

"No, it's like snot."

"It's so pretty."

Matt could hear the sounds of multiple sirens attending vehicle accidents, no doubt caused by distracted drivers staring at the sky. With Foggy sounding more settled, Matt decided to return home to don his mask. After all, out of the ordinary events always seemed to prompt a spike in incidents that required Daredevil's assistance.

Foggy woke to Matt shaking his shoulder. "Foggy. Foggy, wake up."

Foggy grumbled, "wha- what are you doing here?"

"Foggy, open your eyes. Can you see anything."

Foggy let out a small squawk as he opened his eyes to black, "Matt, I-" 

Foggy stopped as he realized he was wearing the sleep eye mask. Shaking his head, he pushed the mask away and squinted into the darkness. The blinds were drawn, but a sliver of light shone through the edge.

"Matt, what's going on?"

"Can you see?"

"Of course I can see," Foggy snapped. "I had a migraine, there's no need to overreact."

Matt gave an exasperated groan. 

"What's going on, Matt?" When Matt didn't respond, Foggy pushed back the covers.

"No! Foggy, you can't go out there."

Foggy looked at his watch. "It's 7am. I need to go to the bathroom and I really need to brush my teeth."

"Oh, okay, yes, you can do that."

Foggy pushed his way past Matt and padded slowly to the bathroom. His migraine had gone, but he felt like he'd run a marathon such was his fatigue. He had every intention of going back to bed.

When he exited the bathroom, Matt was standing right at the door.

"Matt, it's nice that you care, but please stop with the literal hovering. I'm fine. I just want to rest."

When Matt didn't move, Foggy said, "okay, now you're creeping me out. What's wrong?"

"You can't hear it?"

"Hear what?"

Matt held up one hand. "Listen".

"Enough with the bullshit-" Foggy started, but then it clicked. "There's no traffic," Foggy whispered. He raced to the window and threw open the curtains. The sudden light momentarily blinded him and he hissed as he turned his head away.

"What is it?" Matt rushed to Foggy's side. "Are you hurt?"

Foggy pushed Matt away. "It's just the light."

"Does it look like spaghetti? Or fireworks?"

"Seriously, what’s got into you? It's sunlight, Matt. Nothing more."

"Oh, that- that's good. What else can you see?"

Foggy rubbed his eyes and peered out the window with a squint. "There's no one out there," he whispered after a moment. "Where is everyone?"

At that moment, a scream could be heard from the other side of the wall. 

Foggy jumped, but Matt just winced. He’d been hearing screams like that since dawn.

Even through the wall, Foggy could hear the neighbor shriek, "I can't see, I can't see!" It was joined by her partner, who replied, "I can’t see either. Help!"

Foggy gaped. "I have to go next door. The neighbors - they need help."

Matt grabbed Foggy's arm. "You can't."

"Okay, enough of the bullshit. Tell me why you're suddenly all protective and worried and asking me if I can see?"

Matt blurted out, "it's happening to everyone. I can hear them all, waking up, blind. They're desperate Foggy. All of them. But I-I can't, we can't."

"When you say everyone..."

"Everyone."

"Like all of New York?"

"Maybe."

"Why can I see then?"

"Um, well, I have a theory." Matt looked apologetic.

"I'm making coffee. I can already feel the caffeine withdrawal headache forming,” Foggy said, deducing that Matt’s theory might be long-winded. “Tell me your theory."

Matt blurted out, "there were these lights last night, in the sky. It was on every news channel. I could hear everyone excited about the lights. No one knew what they were or how they got there."

Foggy stared at Matt. "Lights? What kind of lights? I mean, did you hear anyone describe them?"

As Matt repeated the descriptions he'd overheard last night, Foggy grabbed his phone and opened the news app. 

Matt paused as he heard Foggy's heartrate increase. "Foggy?"

"I-it says that there are reports coming in of mass blindness."

Matt tipped his head. "So it's true."

"Yeah, but no one knows why. There's speculation it has something to do with the lights." Foggy quickly clicked through to a hyperlinked story about the lights. "Still no answer." He paused as he skimmed the article. "Ergh, great. Apparently the Avengers are onto it."

"How come they weren't blinded?"

"Half of them were doing some sort of immersive training simulation... ergh. Anyway." Foggy put down his phone and returned to the coffee. He spotted Matt's disapproving face. "Oh come on... what are we supposed to do?"

There was a crash outside and a scream. Matt started towards the window, but Foggy grabbed him. "Wait," Foggy hissed. "You don't know what's out there. For all we know the blind people could be zombies, like that movie, you know the one. It was on Netflix."

Matt breathed, "she's okay. She just bumped into an outdoor table." His frame visibly relaxed for a moment.

“Besides, just because most people are blind, it doesn’t mean you should go out the window. Can’t you do doors like a normal person?” Foggy didn’t get a response, nor did he expect one. He slid a coffee across to Matt before adding a generous 3 teaspoons of sugar to his cup. Matt raised his eyebrows as Foggy went to add a 4th. "If I'm going to battle zombie blind people, I need the energy."

"We don't know they're zombies."

"We don't know they're _not_ zombies _,"_ Foggy retorted. "We need a plan. Hope is not a plan. How many times do I have to tell you that?"

Matt opened his mouth to speak, but Foggy interrupted, "I'm not saying you can't go out as Daredevil, but we need to be smart about this Matt."

"They're not going to hurt me, Foggy. They're scared and confused. It's terrifying when you first lose your sight. You don’t know." Matt paused for a moment. "They need my help," he said, getting up and swigging the rest of his coffee.

Foggy tried to grab Matt's arm, but he jumped out of reach.

"I'll be back, Foggy. There's got to be an explanation for this, but in the meantime-" Matt winced as he heard another crash from the street "-at least I can help the people on the streets."

Foggy rolled his eyes. "Okay, you have a point. Go be a hero, but keep your phone on you and give me a call if you find out anything else."

"Thanks, Foggy. I will," Matt said, rushing out the door with his cane.

"And on the upside, you don't need a visual disguise now," Foggy yelled after him.

Sighing, Foggy opened his laptop in the hope of learning something more about the lights. His social media channels were aflame with posts from people across Europe, Asia and Australia - countries that had escaped the curse of the lights.

Someone had uploaded a video of the chaos in Metro General Hospital. The patients who had been well enough to view the lights from the windows were now awake and panicking about their lack of sight. Staff who were meant to be starting the morning shift hadn't showed and most of the night-shift staff had at least peeked at the lights, meaning they were in as much of a panic as their newly blinded patients.

How the videoer escaped the lights wasn't explained online, but he eventually found a couple of staff who had also escaped the curse. "Claire," Foggy whispered as he recognised the black-haired nurse in the background. "Put that thing away and come and help," she yelled at the camera.

"Did you see the lights last night," the videoer asked the nurses.

"Of course not,” Claire snapped. “We were working the ER. When do we have time to go outside? Now get the camera out of our face and help."

The video stopped there. Foggy sat there calculating for a moment. "I have to help," he said to himself, leaping into action. He pulled on the first clothes he could find and left his apartment, pausing only to grab the baseball bat from the corner of his living room. He didn't really believe in zombies, but it couldn't hurt to be cautious. 

As he left the building, Foggy called Matt. It rang out the first time, but the second, Matt picked up.

"Foggy?"

"You're breathless. Are you okay? Say you're not hurt," Foggy rambled.

"I'm not hurt," Matt said. "I-I just - I'm a bit overwhelmed. People are panicking, and rightly so."

"Well, Claire needs help in the ER. She didn't see the lights, Matt. I'm going to help."

"I'll meet you there... and, Foggy?"

"Yeah?"

"Be careful. We still don't know what happened."

Foggy looked down at his bat. "I know."

Foggy bumped into Matt just outside the hospital - a welcome presence in the otherwise empty city. Matt's sweater was askew, and he had a small scratch under his eye.

"You're hurt," Foggy observed.

"Huh?"

"Your face, it's bleeding."

Matt put a finger to the small mark. "This? It's nothing. A finger nail. She panicked."

Foggy raised his eyebrows. "Nothing," he muttered.

But Matt wasn't listening to Foggy. He had his head tilted towards the hospital, listening intently.

Foggy asked warily, "what's going on in there?"

"Panic".


	2. I can't see

Foggy exhaled slowly, looking at the unusually quiet entrance to Metro General. It didn’t look scary, but Matt’s expression of worry was unsettling. Foggy said, "we'll stick together-"

Matt grabbed Foggy's arm. "I don't think you understand. This is raw panic. _Violent_ panic even."

Foggy repeated more slowly, "we'll stick together."

"I might not be able to protect you."

"I'm not asking you to."

Matt tipped his head again. "Claire needs help," he said, starting for the hospital entrance.

As Matt had stated, the ER was in a state of chaos. It was overcrowded, with some people crying, others trying to grab at anything and everything in their vicinity. Unfortunately, the people being grabbed were just as blind as the person grabbing them, resulting in further panic, clumsy fistfights and blood. 

"Wha-what do we do first?" Foggy asked, but Matt was already intervening in the brawl on the floor near the entrance.

Foggy immediately leapt into action, pulling a chair over to a woman who was standing quivering by a wall. She jumped at Foggy's voice, but let Foggy lead her hand to the side of the chair. Once seated, she clung onto Foggy's arm. "Help me," she said to Foggy. "I can't see," she whispered, before repeating with a sob, "I can't see."

"I know. We'll get you help," Foggy replied, trying to extract himself from the woman's grasp. But the woman clung on tighter, her nails digging white crescent moons into Foggy's arm. "Uh, I-I need you to let go," Foggy said hesitantly, before repeating more sternly, "please let go."

"Help me," the woman wept. "Don't leave me."

"I'll come back," Foggy promised, but it wasn't enough. He tried another tack: "do you need water? I can get you water."

The woman let go, and Foggy stumbled back. he didn't realize how fast his heartbeat was drumming until now. 

He looked around for a tap, but spotted a water dispenser in the corner instead. No cups though. Foggy spun around again, trying to ignore the cries of the woman and the growing calls of 'help' from around him. 

"I'll come back" Foggy said, glancing only briefly at the woman before bursting through the set of doors to the treatment area. Immediately, someone leapt on him, clumsily clawing at his shirt. "Do something", the man growled as his equally blind son clung crying to his leg. 

"Um, I-"

"Sir, I'm going to need you to calm down," Matt said as he burst through the doors after Foggy. His voice was even and deep, with not a trace of doubt in his tone. 

Matt managed to haul the man off Foggy. Whether it was Matt's authoritative voice, or the shock of a second person, Foggy didn't know but the man released his grip and adopted a pleading voice. "Please, he's my son."

Matt said, "sir, we have an entire ER of blind patients right now. The best we can do is provide you with a safe place to sit for now while we investigate. Now can you tell me if either of you have any other injuries."

The man put his hand to his abdomen, and Matt immediately said, "can I see?" The man nodded and lifted his shirt to reveal a bloody gash.

Foggy watched Matt frown and then wince ever so slightly. "I'll get you to sit down over here. Hold my arm."

To the entirely blind audience, Matt could well have had perfect vision for all they knew. Matt kept up the seeing charade as he grabbed a sterile pad from a nearby trolley and instructed the man to hold it against the wound. 

"I'll get a doctor to see you as soon as they're free," Matt promised.

"Hey, but can't you fix it?"

"I'll get a doctor," Matt repeated, dodging the outstretched hand of the man as he wildly grabbed at the air.

Matt pulled Foggy towards the corridor. "We have to find Claire," he said.

Foggy soon discovered why Matt was so desperate to find Claire. As they rounded the corner to one of the ER's treatment room, he saw her fending off one man, while trying to help her colleague resuscitate a patient. Matt ran to her, deftly pulling her attacker away and pinning him to the wall.

"Matt? Foggy?" Claire said.

"Don't worry about us," Foggy said, gesturing at the patient. 

Claire took a brief glance at Matt and her assailant before returning her attention to the patient on the table. 

Meanwhile, Matt whispered in the man's ear, "I know you're scared, and confused, and want help, but attacking the very person who's trying to help everyone. _Everyone_. Not just you. Is not going to help. Now, I'm going to walk you out of this room."

"No! You can't leave me. I need help. I'm blind."

"And you're not alone. Thousands of people in the city are blind right now. Panicking and attacking people isn't going to help. Now, I'm going to walk you out of this room. I will show you to a chair and you're going to sit on it and wait for further instructions, or leave the hospital altogether."

The man struggled under Matt's grasp, but was no match for his strength.

"Do you understand?" Matt growled, increasing the pressure on the man’s shoulders.

The man scowled, but stopped struggling. Matt marched the man out of the treatment room and into the waiting area, assisted by Foggy, who pulled a chair into the corner. 

"Foggy, arrange the chairs in a row here. Those who are blind but have no other health issues can wait here."

He ducked back to Claire for further instructions, leaving Foggy with a group of panicky people. One of them grabbed his arm, and another groped their way towards him, pulling at his shirt. "Let go," Foggy yelped. 

"Please help!" one of them said, before they were joined by another and then another. Soon Foggy was swamped by people begging him for help.

"Matt," Foggy called. Someone scratched down his cheek, and still Matt didn't come. Through the panic, Foggy remembered Claire's words from the previous year, "the only thing I ever saw stop a thug mid-fight was a bigger thug." Words. He could use words.

"Stop", he said firmly. The scrabbling only momentarily halted. "You can grab at me and scratch me all you want, but that's not going to help you," Foggy said, his voice muffled by the bodies around him. "If you step back, I can help you. But I can't help you if you suffocate me."

A few bodies stepped back, but one clung on steadfastly. Foggy thought quick. "You, holding onto my shirt, let go now."

"But you'll leave. Just like you did before."

"Look, I know you're scared. But trust me, I know how to help you in the short term. You need to let go though."

"Let go," another person echoed.

"Let him go," another murmured.

"Good," Foggy said, stepping back as soon as the person released his shirt.

"So, what I'm going to do is put these chairs in a row. There's a bathroom at the end of the wall. Everyone will be facing the wall, only a couple of feet away. All you have to do is follow the wall with your hands and you can reach the bathroom. I'll see if I can find some water, but in the meantime, at least you have access to tap water."

"I'm hungry."

"I need food. I'm diabetic. if I don't eat..."

Others chimed in with mostly minor issues, but en masse it was overwhelming. There was a whole hospital of sick and needy people. If Foggy couldn't even help these mostly well ones, how the hell were they going to cope with the rest?

"So, chairs first," Foggy said, mostly to himself.

Foggy busied himself arranging the chairs. Miraculously, there wasn't a pile-on like before. He was just about to finish up and find Claire when he remembered his promise to the woman before. He dashed back to the entry and led her to the rearranged waiting area. "The wall will lead you to the bathroom, and a tap," he said quickly. "I'm sorry but I have to go."

"No!" the woman protested, but she was overruled by her neighbor. "Let him go,” the neighbor said kindly. “He knows what he's doing."

"Thanks," Foggy said, smiling at the neighbor, forgetting that he couldn't see. Damn, it was like meeting Matt all over again.

"Speaking of Matt," Foggy murmured to himself, heading towards the treatment room.

When Foggy burst through into the treatment area, he found Matt with a suture kit open, patiently sewing up a wound. Foggy yelped, "what the hell are you doing?"

"Stitching a wound," Matt said redundantly.

“You know that’s not what I meant. Does Claire know you’re doing this?" 

Matt turned towards Foggy and shook his head before gesturing at the patient who, while blind, wasn't deaf to Foggy's questioning.

"What's wrong?" the patient asked, suddenly panicked.

"Nothing. Lie down," Matt said calmly to the patient. "That's good. You're doing well."

Foggy came over to see Matt's work. A row of impossibly neat stitches was holding together an impressively long wound. Matt snipped off the end of the suture thread with a flourish and quickly dressed the wound. It was strange for Foggy to see Matt move so fluidly in public. Here, he was anonymous to almost everyone. No one but Claire and Foggy knew he was blind, and they didn't have to.

"You escaped," Matt said to Foggy as he finished up the dressing.

"So you heard me call for help," Foggy replied.

"I knew you could handle it."

Foggy didn't have a reply to that. "I set them up in a row next to the wall. Told them to wait."

"That's the best we can do for now," Matt said. "Let's just hope the Avengers can figure out what happened and reverse it, preferably without destroying half the city again."

"And if they can't?"

"Well, I have a few spare canes lying around that I could probably lend people," Matt said, a slight smile on his face.

Foggy gave Matt a playful punch. "Come on, let's see what Claire's up to."

As the day wore on, more people arrived in the ER, some of them injured in addition to the sudden blindness. Foggy tweaked his seating arrangement, but as the day wore on, they started running out of chairs, and then floor space. Foggy was trying to encourage those who didn't need treatment to go home, but almost every time the request was met with resistance. The bathrooms were by now unhygienic filth-traps. The toilet paper had long run out and the floor was disgustingly slippery due to missed targets. A few janitors had stayed on following their night shift (having had been too busy to duck out to see the lights), and another two had turned up to work having missed the lights. But four janitors were not enough for an entire hospital, and the place was quickly falling apart.

People were hungry, cold, confused, and angry. And the problem didn't look like it was going away any time yet. Meanwhile, Claire and her nursing colleague, Fari, had been working flat-out for nearly twenty hours. Matt was doing his best to assist the nurses with the cases he could manage, but it turned out that his home first aid solutions could only go so far and there were only so many people needing simple stitches and bandaging. So Matt eventually ended up on triage duty with Foggy.

It turned out Matt's unique talents were well suited to the quick assessments needed for the triage duty. "It's a sprain, not a break," Matt whispered to Foggy after chatting to a man who insisted he'd broken his ankle while trying to navigate the stairs blind. "He needs rest, elevation, ice."

The next woman had walked into a metal pipe. "Ribs cracked, but stable," Matt whispered to Foggy. "No immediate threat to her lungs."

They were about to move onto the next person in line when Matt stopped suddenly with a frown on her face. "Young girl. Just entered."

"Yeah, what about her?"

"She needs to see Claire."

"Why?"

"She just does."

Foggy ushered the little girl and his mother over to Matt. "What's wrong?"

"We both woke up blind," the mother replied.

“What’s your name, little one?” Matt said kindly.

“Clara. Her name’s Clara,” the mother replied on her daughter’s behalf.

Matt said hurriedly, "Clara, I'm going to take you through to the nurse. Don't get a fight."

Matt picked the little girl up, ignoring the squawk of surprise. Her mother picked up that something was awry and said, "what's wrong?"

As Matt burst through the doors with the little girl, he said to Claire, "her heart - there's something wrong."

"What can you hear?"

"A whooshing sound," Matt replied without hesitation.

"Like a heart murmur?"

"Yes."

The mother interrupted, "oh, I didn't mention. Clara has a heart murmur. It's being treated."

"Oh." Matt relaxed slightly. 

"But the blindness?"

"Everyone's blind," Foggy said matter-of-factly. He'd had to repeat it enough times already today that it no longer seemed remarkable.

"Even you?"

"No, we escaped it. But if you're just here because you're blind, I'll take you back to the waiting area. Really, the best thing you can do right now is go home and wait. Everyone is in the same boat here - and between you and me, there's no food and the bathrooms are icky. We don't know why or how, and with most of America's transport, infrastructure and emergency personnel now blind, it looks like we might have to wait a bit longer for help and answers." 

Claire looked up at the conclusion of Foggy's concise recommendation. He had the speech down to a fine art by now.

It took a few more minutes of convincing, but eventually the mother and daughter agreed to return home. Foggy ushered them towards the entrance, while Matt stayed behind to talk to Claire. 

Claire took a moment to stretch her back. "How's it going out there?"

"Nothing too serious. A couple of breaks and sprains. I think the more serious cases simply can't get here. A blind guy brought his neighbor in and I managed to convince him to stay and chat to the people in the waiting room. Reassure them that it's not the end of the world. Tell them not to lead with the tips of their fingers and all that," Matt said casually.

"You don't want to do that?"

There was a silence. Matt changed the subject. "Is there anything I can do to help here?"

Claire opened her mouth to speak, but Matt had turned and sprinted out the door before she could make a sound.

"Matt-" Claire yelled after him.

Matt almost collided with Foggy, who was running the other way. "Oh thank god, Matt. There are these things."

"What type of things?"

"Like figures, but green. They don't have eyes."

"What do you mean? Like aliens?"

"Fuck. I don't know. Just-just help me lock this door."

"And leave everyone out there?"

"Matt, everyone’s following the green things. It's like they're possessed or something."

Matt tipped his head, desperately trying to figure out what was going on in the waiting room. Foggy slid the top and bottom manual locks closed, then grabbed Matt's arm. "Come on, we need to get back to Claire."

As they ran to the treatment room, Claire and Fari ran out with blood on their hands.

"Claire, what's wrong?"

"I don't know. The patient just woke up and tried to attack us."

"Why?"

"I don't know. What I do know is that when we sedated him, he was blind, but he certainly didn't act blind just now. He knew exactly where we were."

Foggy noticed Matt change his stance. His head was down and he was listening intently to something that wasn't visible to the rest of them. They were standing in the larger treatment area, rimmed with beds surrounded by curtains. It was quiet apart from the beep of machines from within the cubicles. 

"We have to go," he said. Foggy made towards the exit, but Matt said, "no, this way," gesturing at a door that said, "to radiology".

Matt tipped his head again. “Uh, actually, I have to... uh, Claire, lock the doors behind me, then go through the door. Don’t wait.”

Foggy yelled, “Matt, you’re not leaving us.”

Matt replied, “I’ll catch up. Go, _go_!”

Matt ran towards the doors, unbolting one side before gesturing frantically to Claire. “On the count of three, I’m going to unbolt this second door. Do not hesitate. Lock it immediately after I’m through.”

Claire gave him a pleading, “Matt, what are you doing?” But she knew it was useless. Once Matt Murdock had made his mind up on a hero mission, it was impossible to convince him otherwise.

Matt slipped through the door and Claire immediately locked it behind him, despite the sudden wave of thumps and groans that could be heard on the other side.

Claire ran back to the others. “Come on, through these doors,” she said, gesturing at the exit Matt had pointed to before.

Foggy said, “Claire, we can’t leave him. He won’t be able to get back through without someone to unlock the door.”

“But he-”

“But he did the martyr thing, yes, I know. But we can’t abandon him. Besides, I suspect we’re going to need him soon enough.”

Fari piped up, “what can he do that we can’t?”

Foggy and Claire exchanged looks. Foggy suddenly cottoned on. “Oh, you don’t know he's b-”

“He’s a kick ass martial arts expert,” Claire interrupted. “Knows the hospital layout too.”

Foggy gave Claire a puzzled look, but she just looked away. There were eyeless green aliens on the other side of the door, and Claire was still intent on keeping Matt’s secret.

Before they could decide on their next move, three patients simultaneously stepped out from behind their respective curtains. They'd arrived blind, but from their stance, it was clear that something had changed. They stood up straight, confident - not at all like the slightly hunched, fearful and disoriented stance of a person who had recently lost their sight.

"Shit," Claire said, clasping Fari’s hand and pulling her towards the door to radiology. Foggy looked anxiously between the nurses, the patients and then back to the locked doors.

“Foggy, we have to go.”

Foggy saw a glint of silver against one of the patient’s palm. A suture scalpel, he realized. He took a step back.

“Foggy! Now!” Claire yelled.

Foggy was just about to hightail it when there was a frantic rapping at the double doors. “Foggy! I know you’re there. Let us through,” Matt yelled.

Foggy ran to the doors, glancing over his shoulder a few times at the scalpel-weilding patient, who remained still as if waiting for a command. Foggy slipped open one lock, but Matt yelled, “wait!”

Foggy heard a thud and the doors reverberated. He jumped back, just as Matt yelled, “now!”

A stranger was thrust through the crack in the door, falling forward onto his hands and knees. Matt slipped through after him, throwing his entire weight against the back of the door and yelling, “lock it!”

Matt was puffing like Foggy had never seen him before. He wiped the beads of sweat off his face, before saying, “right, well...” He leapt over to the man he’d rescued and said, “are you okay? Can you walk?”

The man groaned as he stood up, but said, “yes, thank you.”

As he got to his feet, Foggy, Claire and Fari spotted the rescued man’s dark glasses and the folded cane tucked into the man’s jeans.

Claire called, “is he safe?” just as Fari said in a wavering voice, “Claire, we have to go!” They all realized why. The patients had animated and two of them were slowly walking towards the nurses.

Matt took the arm of the rescued stranger and said, “trust me, we need to move quick.”

They all ran towards the door to radiology. Matt let the others through before slamming the door shut on the advancing trio and jamming a chair under the handle. Halfway down the hall, Matt paused and yelled at Claire, "no, this way." Claire doubled back, following the others through the open door. "Where now?" she breathed.

Matt ducked his head. "Uh, through there," he whispered. "Quickly, quickly."

Foggy said to Matt, "has everyone in the hospital animated like that?"

"I can hear them on other floors, yes."

"Like zombies," Foggy said. 

Matt ignored the comment, concentrating instead on his next move. As they rounded the corner, they spotted two zombie patients slowly advancing towards them, their slippered feet soft on the floor. 

"Back, go back," Foggy said, but Matt said, "no, it's worse back there." 

Matt stepped forward. "Can we help you? Do you need to find your way back to your room," he said hopefully. The patients didn't reply. One of them lunged at Matt with a surgeon’s saw that he hadn't noticed was tucked into the zombie's hand.

Matt immediately pinned the zombie's hand to the wall so that the saw fell with a clang to the floor. The other zombie came at Matt from behind, and Matt momentarily froze, not wanting to strike an already sick person. Foggy deduced the cause of Matt's hesitation and yelled, "they're gone. They’re zombies! Do what you have to do."

Matt swallowed the guilt and elbowed the zombie in his chest - sharp enough that it incapacitated the figure, but not enough to badly injure him. 

"Quick, go through now," Matt said, still pinning the first attacker to the wall. Claire and Fari jumped over the second zombie who was curled up on the floor. Foggy lead the blind stranger more slowly around the patient’s crumpled legs and followed Claire and Fari to the door at the end of the corridor. "Wait for a second," Matt said, listening for something beyond the door. "Okay, now!"

Claire burst through the door, holding it open for Matt and the others to follow. She jammed the door closed with a solitary IV pole and looked at Matt for directions.

"This way," Matt said, before stopping suddenly. 

Claire said between puffs, "what's wrong?"

"There's someone here," Matt said, creeping around to the nurses’ station.

He tipped his head, listening to the panicked heartbeats. "We're not going to hurt you," he said softly. "Come with us."

Foggy craned his head to try and figure out who Matt was talking to. Eventually a short woman and a stocky man stood up from beneath the counter. 

"Maria, Martin," Claire said. "Thank goodness. Come with us."

"You escaped the blindness too then," Maria deduced.

"And I'm beginning to think it wasn't a good thing," Claire said sardonically. She said, “Maria, Martin, this is Matt, Foggy, and...” she looked at the blind stranger. “Gino,” he said.

Martin said, “he’s blind.”

“But he’s not one of them,” Foggy chimed in. “He was already blind. He’s safe”

“But-”

Matt interrupted, "quick, the stairs." He ran towards the stairwell and started down the stairs. He stopped, "no, back up. Quick. Up, up!"

Foggy was getting breathless by the second flight. "How far up are we going, Matt?"

"To the roof," Matt responded.

"And from there?"

Matt didn't respond. 

Claire puffed, "Matt, do you have a plan?"

"Just trust me," Matt snapped. He pushed open the rooftop access door and they piled out onto the roof. It was now dusk. A whole day had passed helping the blind patients, who, for some reason were now turning on them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aliens AND zombies oh my! 
> 
> Can you tell I catalogue sci-fi books?


	3. Ground zero

Foggy peered over the side of the roof. Rows and rows of people stood in the street below, seemingly waiting for something. It was hard to believe that only 12 hours ago, Foggy had been waking up from a migraine to what he believed would be an utterly unproductive day.

Claire leaned against the closed rooftop door as she caught her breath. She looked at Matt, who was still concentrating on the movements below. She tentatively said, “Matt?” When he didn’t respond, she clicked her fingers at him. " _Matt_ , what now?"

"Claire, you might want to see this," Foggy said, a minute wobble in his voice.

Claire ran over to the edge. "Shit."

The swearword was echoed by her three colleagues as they joined Claire and Foggy at the edge of the roof. From their vantage points, they could see the zombie New Yorkers emerging from surrounding buildings and making their way towards the hospital. They walked slowly, but confidently. But they didn’t enter the building; instead, they started to form a ring around the hospital, lining up in neat concentric circles.

Only Matt and Gino stayed near the roof access door. But not for long. Matt startled and then yelled to the group, "help me with this planter." He gestured at the heavy stone pot housing a dead-looking mixture of plants and used cigarette butts. The group grunted and panted as they shifted the pot against the roof access door, getting it into place just as the door reverberated with a bang. Like popcorn, the banging increased until it was akin to a deep rumble of thunder. The planter started to give. 

"Sit on it... do something! Anything," Foggy hollered.

"No, get back," Matt yelled and they ran to the far corner of the roof just as the planter was shoved, impossibly, feet away from the door. The door gave way and a dozen zombies marched out.

"Matt," Foggy said in a wavering voice.

Matt had his fists up in a boxer’s stance, ready to fight. But the zombies just stood there, waiting. More and more piled out, none of them acknowledging the presence of the seven humans gathered in one corner. They lined up, head towards the sky. And still, Matt stood deathly still apart from a slight tip of the head. 

"They're waiting," Matt told the others. 

Claire whispered, "for what?"

"I don't know."

Claire, Foggy and the others shuffled further behind Matt. Moments later, one of the zombies lunged at Matt, taking him by surprise. He stepped aside with just enough of a delay that the zombie brushed his shirt. He turned around and kicked the zombie in the side so that it stumbled and fell flat on its face. A second approached, but Matt was ready this time, punching the zombie in the face before landing a kick at the adjacent zombie in anticipation. 

"Who is he?" Martin asked Claire.

"Never mind that," Claire replied. "Can you fight?"

"No, I'm a doctor, not a boxer."

Claire muttered something unintelligible, and then addressed the others. "Anyone?"

"No," they all said.

"Great," Claire muttered.

"Foggy, there's a length of wood in the corner there," Matt yelled.

Foggy ran over to the area Matt gestured to and sure enough, there was a baseball bat-sized stick snugly lying in the gutter. Foggy grabbed it and turned around to the advancing zombies. 

"I don't know how I feel hitting sick people," Foggy said. His knees felt like they were about to give way and his hands were sweaty on the stick. 

"As you said, they're gone," Claire replied. "It's either us or them."

"It will violate my Hippocratic oath," Martin argued.

Matt had a swarm of zombies surrounding him. He broke free from the pack, jumping onto the edge of the roof before kicking off and taking out two zombies at once. A few strayed towards Claire and the group, but Foggy took aim and managed to hit them in the kneecaps (he still couldn't bring himself to do more than incapacitate them). 

Martin swung at one with his stethoscope, which just confused the zombie more than anything else. The distraction gave Matt just enough time to flip over to Martin and throw the zombie off to one side. 

Claire's lessons with Colleen had paid off. Her carefully aimed blow to a zombie’s solar plexus sent him stumbling back into the crowd. Another zombie came up from behind, which Fari managed to push away. It was a feeble push, but it did the trick. The zombies, while numerous, didn't seem to have much strength. They had stamina through. They easily got back up again. And again. And again. 

None of the humans could see this fight ending well. And that was even before they noticed the growing disk of light in the sky. The zombies suddenly stopped. Surprised, the seven humans did too.

"Shit, no one look at the sky," Foggy said, worried that the disk was the same as the lights that had blinded his fellow Americans the night before.

Matt was dripping wet with sweat. He stumbled back, panting. "Foggy, what's going on?"

Gino echoed, “yeah, what’s happening?”

The door to the roof opened and six green figures stepped onto the roof. 

"Oh no," Martin said. 

"Foggy, tell me," Matt said more forcefully.

"Uh, the alien things have arrived," Foggy stammered.

"Zombies and now aliens... you've got to be shitting me," Matt puffed. 

"It's like The Incident all over again."

"Apart from the lack of Avengers." Matt paused, raised one finger, listening to something only he could hear. "No wait, it's exactly like The Incident," he corrected. Seconds later there was a roar and Ironman zoomed low over the hospital roof. The seven humans ducked, but the zombies stayed standing, heads slightly tilted towards the glowing disk.

A beam of green light connected with the aliens. They slipped into the thin stream and glided upwards into the glowing disk.

Before any of the humans could mutter so much as a ‘WTF’, another robotic figure appeared. Ironman pointed at the group of humans surrounded by the still static zombies, and the second robot nodded before swooping down and landing softly on the roof.

"Ironman and... uh, it looks like a second Ironman. I don't know if this is a good or a bad thing," Foggy whispered to Matt.

As soon as the second figure touched the rooftop, the zombies re-animated, all of them charging at the group of humans. Matt jumped onto the low roof edge before flipping backwards into the throng, doing all he could to prevent the mass of zombies engulfing the humans. Ironman, who looked like he had been about to take off in the opposite direction, doubled back and shot a ray of red light between the zombies and Matt. The zombies fell back as if repelled from the red light. 

"That's right, fuckers. You're not going to win against Ironman," Matt heard a tinny voice from inside the Ironman suit.

The second armored figure shot a fiber-rimmed blanket-like object onto the roof. "Get in, we'll get you out of here."

"Why should we trust you," yelled Foggy.

"Because this hospital is ground zero and you won’t be able to hold off much longer," Ironman said.

Foggy looked at Matt, "Matt, is he telling the truth?"

"I can't hear," Matt replied. 

Matt faced Ironman. "Take us to the adjacent rooftop. No further."

Maria piped up, "no, take me away from here."

"The rooftop only," Matt repeated, adding a whispered, "it's best not to trust Ironman completely," to Maria. She didn't argue.

"Fine, bossy pants," Ironman sang.

Matt scowled, but jumped onto the blanket nonetheless. The second armored figure shot into the air, carrying the bundle of humans clean off the ground. Maria screamed, leading Matt to cover his ears in pain. 

"Don't deafen him," Claire told her. "We need him."

"Who are you anyway?" Martin asked once more.

"No one," Matt breathed. He was still recovering from the intense battle. He wiped the sweat from his brow and realized to his shock that his glasses were missing. 

Martin stared at Matt's unfocussed eyes, which didn’t quite meet his own. He scrambled back and demanded, "hey, are you blind too?"

"He's not a zombie," Claire said, putting a warning hand on Martin's wrist.

Tangled as he was, Martin attempted to get further away from Matt. "what's going on? Why are you here? Is it a trick?"

Claire said sharply, "he's with us. Leave it."

"No, how do you do what you do? The fighting, the... whatever you were doing back there."

Matt just ignored Martin. He didn't have the energy to explain even if he wanted to. He leaned back into the fabric for a blissful second, his eyes closed. But he only had a few seconds respite. Unknown to the others, whose vision was obscured by the thick fabric, Ironman had sent a blast of energy across the roof of the hospital. Matt sensed the energy surge, the hairs on his arms standing straight in response. He startled and opened his eyes wide.

Foggy asked, "Matt, what is it?"

"I-I don't know. I can't work it out."

Without notice, the robot carrying the seven humans jerked, causing Maria to fall flat onto Matt. She screamed again, also worried that Matt's blindness coupled with his extraordinary abilities meant that he was a zombie in disguise.

But Matt was worried about other things. He frowned. "Ironman just... vanished."

"You stopped hearing him?"

"No... he was flying upwards and then..." Matt clicked his fingers. "Nothing."

They all made a small yelp as the blanket touched down on the adjacent roof. 

Martin and Maria scrambled out and moved as far away from Matt as possible. Matt ignored them, and instead reached out to Gino, helping the fellow blind man to his feet.

As Matt straightened, Claire gasped, "Matt, you're bleeding." His dark colored shirt had a slightly darker patch on one side, with a small patch of red just visible at the top of his jeans. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Matt felt his stomach. "This? It's just a scratch."

Claire didn't ask before she pulled up his shirt, revealing his splotchy red skin and lengthy gash. Claire dug into the pockets of her scrubs and pulled out a package small wad of cloth. She ripped it open and held it out to Matt. "Here, hold this against the cut. It'll stem the bleeding."

"It's nothing," Matt said, embarrassed. 

"Matt, if you're out of action, we're doomed," Foggy said. There was a murmur of agreement from Maria and Martin. Foggy gave them a withering look. He wasn’t about to forgive them their prejudices just yet.

The second armored figure cleared his throat. "Um, so if you're okay here, I'm going to figure out what happened to Tony."

Now that the immediate distraction of Matt's wound had passed, the group looked over to the rooftop of zombies. The zombies were once again static and standing to attention. As Matt had said, there was no Ironman visible. 

Foggy asked the robotic figure, "what happened to him?"

"The idiot decided to fly into that light,” the armor replied. “I've never known anyone to play the self-sacrificial hero quite as much as him, you know."

Foggy swapped looks with Claire and then both looked at Matt.

The armored figure added, "who are you anyway? And why aren't you blind?" 

"We didn't see the light," Foggy said. Before he could say anything more, there was an explosion from the disk and Ironman reappeared, spinning in the air, seemingly out of control. The second robot leapt into action, zooming into the air and deftly catching the unresponsive Ironman. With Ironman in his arms, the second robotic figure returned to the rooftop housing the seven humans, laying Ironman on the ground before pulling at his headpiece. "Jarvis, open Tony's suit," the second robot ordered. His own headpiece folded back, revealing the concerned face of the human inside. 

"My name is James by the way. Can you help? You're all medics, I'm assuming."

"Lawyer," Foggy said, putting his hands up in mock surrender. "You want these guys," he added pointing at Claire and her colleagues. 

But there was no need. Ironman's helmet folded away to reveal Tony's face. He blinked a few times. "That was intense," he said. "A bit easier than the previous martians, but I’m not going to be able to sleep for a while."

“Do you ever?” James quipped.

Tony struggled to a seated position. "It looks like the zombification is no longer," he said, pointing towards the roof. The group had been so distracted by Ironman that they hadn't noticed the mass of confused figures now wandering, dazed, on the roof of the hospital.

"Are you okay, boss?" James asked.

"Fine, fine," Tony said, rubbing his face. "You should have seen the tech. It was incredible. I mean, not the use of it, but man, I reckon we could use some of that for good. If they could make most of America blind, maybe I could use it to reverse blindness."

Matt took a wary step away from the group.

"Are you still blind?" Martin asked Matt and Gino.

Gino replied, “yep”, but Matt just shifted uncomfortably. He was still holding the gash on his side. Now that the immediate threat of zombies had lifted, it was starting to really throb.

"Martin," Claire said warningly. 

"Are you blind?" Tony said to Matt in a tone that could be best described as relish. 

"Yes, and he's also hurt. We need to get him help," Foggy said matter-of-factly.

"How - how do you fight? This is fascinating," Tony gushed.

Matt closed his eyes to stop himself from rolling his eyes.

"There are other ways to see," he said tiredly. 

But Tony wasn’t put off. If anything, it just encouraged him more. "So you what - do you use echolocation, or something else? Do you have powers?"

"Can you just forget I was here," Matt said. "We need to help. There are hundreds of people in the building opposite us needing assistance."

"He's got a point," Claire said. "But is it safe?"

"Jarvis?" Tony asked.

Jarvis’ robotic voice confirmed that while there were injuries, it appeared that the population's eyesight had returned to normal.

"Apart from those who were already blind," Foggy said, looking at Matt who still looked like he wanted to disappear into the ground.

Foggy awoke on Matt's couch, fully clothed. He scrubbed at his face, momentarily disoriented. He soon realized it was the morning after and both of them had survived yet another Incident. He could hear Matt shuffling around in the kitchen making coffee. Foggy groaned as he sat up, and immediately felt guilty for verbally expressing his fatigue when he saw Matt’s state. Matt was dressed in his boxers, his hair still rumpled from sleep. The exposed gash on his side was red and swollen, but was now neatly stitched up thanks to Claire. Other injuries were now making themselves visible. The fingernail marks on his cheek were accompanied by a blooming bruise, and purple-red splotches dotted his legs, chest and upper arms. 

"We would have died if not for you," Foggy said.

"Morning," Matt replied as a deflection.

"What can you hear out there?"

"A lot of people are hurt,” Matt replied without pause. “I suspect Metro General are going to be overloaded in a different way today. But mostly, it’s the sound of New York moving on."

"We tend to do that huh."

Matt nodded and handed Foggy a coffee.

"I guess we should get ready for work," Foggy said after a moment.

"I guess so," Matt agreed, giving his friend a wry smile.

New York might have moved on, but Tony Stark hadn't. A week after the second incident, Tony turned up at the office of Nelson & Murdock.

Matt identified Tony just as he was about to enter the office. He cursed. It was too late to jump out the window. Instead, he gripped the arms of his office chair and took a measured breath, gathering the strength to face the over-excited inventor.

"I'm looking for Matthew Murdock," Tony said on entering the reception area.

From his hiding place, Matt heard Karen stutter, "uh, do you have an appointment?"

Matt decided to short circuit the conversation and jumped up from his chair. The wound on his side had mostly healed, but the stitches still pulled at the sudden movement (punishment for his sins). Matt clenched his teeth and held his torso for a moment, before taking a deep breath and opening his office door.

"Mr Stark," Matt said stiffly, offering his hand.

"Mr Murdock," Tony replied, shaking his hand. 

Matt gestured at Tony to enter his office. Before he followed, Matt gave Karen a secret signal to create a diversion fairly soon. 

Before Matt could offer him a seat, Tony said, "I'd like to offer you a business opportunity."

Matt closed the door and silently lowered himself into his chair. "Not interested," Matt replied.

"What about your alter ego - Daredevil? On the roof the other night, you said there were other ways to see. I could use that."

Matt paused for a moment, wondering how Tony had connected the dots from Matthew Murdock to Daredevil. He didn’t want to give Tony the pleasure though. Matt simply replied, "not interested."

The conversation continued along those lines for another five minutes before Karen gave a tentative knock at the door. "Matt, your 11 o'clock."

"Thanks, Karen." Matt nodded to Tony. "Please excuse me. There are people in need of my assistance."

Foggy waited until they were sitting around a sticky table at Josie's that night to lay into Matt. "He was asking you to be an Avenger, wasn't he," Foggy teased.

Matt huffed in amusement. "No."

"Yeah he was."

"No." Matt gave a wry grin. "Well... maybe."

"Are you going to do it?"

Matt huffed again. "No. Mortals are more than enough for me. I'd be happy never to fight another alien invasion again."

Karen hissed, "argh, a green thing! behind you." Both Matt and Foggy yelped, and Matt jumped to his feet so quickly that he nearly knocked over the table.

Karen went into peals of laughter. "Avenger recruit or not, you're both gullible."

"Don't you dare, Karen," Foggy warned.

"Or what?"

"Or Matt will ninja you."

"Ninja's not a verb, Foggy," Matt said, smoothing down his shirt.

"I love you guys," Karen said, giving the two red-cheeked men an awkward hug. "You're still not forgiven for letting me turn into a temporary zombie. But I love you anyway."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever written. Forgive me.
> 
> Also, I feel guilty about injuring the patients, zombie or not. Forgive me for that too please.


End file.
